State Street CIO Opens Culture to Accommodate Tech Talent

Antoine Shagoury must balance the desire of IT staff to participate in open-source groups with the bank’s need to protect sensitive projects and plans

We have to sell them on the opportunity to work here, said Antoine Shagoury, State Streets global chief information officer. Were looking at how to seed innovation.
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State Street Corp.

State Street Corp. is granting some special requests from top candidates for technology positions that can be hard to fill.

Recent hires in the bank’s IT group received extras such as the approval to advise tech startups or volunteer with industry groups helping set standards for emerging technologies. What may be familiar requests in the technology industry can raise concerns in the highly regulated banking realm, said Antoine Shagoury, State Street’s global chief information officer.

Some of the best technologists in areas that the investment bank wants to build up – data analytics, artificial intelligence, and software development – frequently participate in open-source communities where a free exchange of knowledge can worry banks trying to protect competitive secrets, Mr. Shagoury said. But being open to such ideas helps State Street land desirable candidates, he said.

“We have to sell them on the opportunity to work here,” Mr. Shagoury said. “We’re looking at how to seed innovation.”

A continuing shortage of technology skills is forcing companies to compete hard for talent. In a 2017 survey of 4,500 technology executives by Harvey Nash and KPMG LLC, 62% reported a skills shortage, with the most scarcity in data analytics.

Moiz Kohari joined State Street last September as chief architect, working in his preferred location of Telluride,Colo. The bank gave him three computer monitors because he likes to hold multiple, lengthy video conferences with colleagues throughout the day. He uses a secure network to interact with colleagues and usually conducts meetings with clients in person, Mr. Shagoury said. For Mr. Kohari, the chance to work remotely was important to him, he said in an email. “We’re in the business of getting world-class talent to work for us and that means not boxing them into a desk in Boston or New York or anywhere else for that matter.”

The bank’s ethics group has devised rules for employees who want to pursue passion projects. “State Street recognizes that in today’s world our work and personal lives are becoming increasingly intertwined,” said Anthony O’Reilly, State Street’s chief ethics officer, in an email.

Employees looking to participate in outside activities need their manager’s approval and that of the ethics office. There can be no conflicts of interest with the bank or its clients and State Street can place conditions on the activity, Mr. O’Reilly said. “We...review these carefully.”

Extracurricular activity “develops their technical skills, and satisfies their desire for professional development, but we have to have rules about what is proprietary to State Street,” Mr. Shagoury said.

To attract technology innovators, State Street also offers expert legal and technical help in filing patent applications for their inventions. Some companies don’t put much emphasis on patents but State Street encourages it, Mr. Shagoury said. Winning patents is prestigious for both the bank and the individual, he said. “It’s something we have to do to be competitive.” Recent hires in IT and research and development, he said, hold about 700 patents collectively.